MPs Get Little Pay, Kenyan MPs Say

By Cyprian Musoke VISITING Kenya MPs said yesterday that their Ugandan counterparts are underpaid, and that their recent pay increase should not cause public outcry. They said East African parliamentarians were among the worst paid in the region. They predicted future demand by MPs for pay increases. The leader of the eight-man team, David Musila, said in Kenya MPs earned Ksh300,000 (Ush6.5m) as basic salary. He, however, said the Government does not facilitate purchase of cars for them. He said they get them duty free. “When you compare the salary of an MP with say, a company director, it is peanuts,” Musila said. He said last year they went through the same criticism, which also happened in Canada and that Uganda was not an isolated case. He said for MPs to perform properly, they have to be ‘adequately’ facilitated. “We want democracy, but we have to pay for it. I don’t know whether the public appreciates the difficult circumstances in which we operate,” Musila said. Members of the Uganda Parliamentary Service Commission said it was unfair for the Government to say that some functions of the Government were being affected by the pay increase. “We are not the highest paid people. I felt a bit frustrated when the Government said they were cutting finances elsewhere because of our pay increase,” Margaret Zziwa (Kampala Woman) who chaired the meeting said. The Kenyan MPs urged their counterparts to organise an insurance scheme for themselves since they always travel. Ends